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PARK CITY — Many Utah students just finished up drug awareness training during their school's Red Ribbon week. Now one police department wants to help bring parents up to speed on the drug messages their kids are sending with their clothes.
Park City police officer Cory Allinson has only been assigned to Park City schools for about two months, and he need look no further than kids clothes to see a troubling trend.
"I'm pretty sure parents don't know, school faculty don't know; and I'm trying to get the word out to look for this stuff," he said.
The "stuff" Allinson's talking about things like clothing brands that outwardly symbolize the drug culture and brands that actually enable it. He also sees ball caps and beanies with stash pockets and shoes that contain a flask or a stash pocket.
"If you're having trouble with your kids, and they have these identifiers: where there's smoke, there's fire," Allinson said.
When he sees clothes that violate school policy, Allinson makes the kids go change or go home. Still, he says kids make no attempt to hide a counterculture that's become more widely accepted.
Allinson recently had to educate a mother about a hat her son was wearing. It was a Trukfit hat — a brand from rapper Lil' Wayne — that had bloodshot eyes with the quote "Feelin' Spacey."
Little did the mother know that message on the hat is a reference to drinking purple Robitussin cough syrup.
"He was already in trouble with the law, and he came to an interview with me wearing this hat," Allinson said.
In the end, Allinson wants parents to be aware of this problem because wearing these brands sends a message and draws a certain crowd.
"If you're trying to get your child out of trouble, and he's wearing this type of thing, it's going to be an uphill battle," Allinson said.
